Benjamin Riot & Valentin Sollier

Hello, the laundry care experience redefined by peer community

CLIENT

Ecole de Design Nantes Atlantique

Hello, the laundry care experience redefined by peer community

Hello, the laundry care experience redefined by community.

This is a combination of two products: a washing machine and a clothes basket, working together within a service. Hello is designed to offer a whole new experience of washing clothes, by linking together a person who has a washing machine and someone who is looking to get the laundry done. Hello has been created especially with the needs of the Active Youth generation (20-35 years old) in mind.

JURY COMMENTS

While the overall concept needs work to fit into a business model we found the way the system breaks down into the individual and shared product parts holistic and interesting. To have the washing machine drum separated from the machine could be an innovative approach to a topic that affects many users globally.

We like the overall aesthetics of the concept including the functional details such as the holes in the drum becoming an authentic design element.

We think the concept would be a better business case for apartment complexes, where the machine(s) can be stored in a community washing room. Each apartment owner could then have their own drum and access to the shared machines.

Rather than awarding a niche product we found this a novel design idea for an everyday task that is highly relevant.

Hello, the laundry care experience redefined by peer community

1. The Nutshell: In plain language, tell us what your project is, what it does, and what it’s comprised of.

Hello, the laundry care experience redefined by community.
This is a combination of two products: a washing machine and a clothes basket, working together within a service. Hello is designed to offer a whole new experience of washing clothes, by linking together a person who has a washing machine and someone who is looking to get the laundry done. Hello has been created especially with the needs of the Active Youth generation (20-35 years old) in mind.

2. The Brief: Summarize the problem you set out to solve. What was the context for the project, and what was the
challenge posed to you?

At the beginning of this project we’ve been asked to come up with new concepts of washing machine for the Active Youth generation (20-35 years old).
Instead of focusing on the product only (the washing machine), we decided to look at the overall laundry care experience. At the moment when you want to do your laundry there are two main scenarios:
- You have a washing machine and it’s really easy,
- Or you don’t and it’s quite a journey to get your clothes washed.
In our mind, looking at both scenarios and not just only one was the only way to come up with some really interesting ideas.

3. The Intent: What point of view did you bring to the project, and were there additional criteria that you added to
the brief?

During this project we did a lot of research around products and services targeting the Active Youth generation. We discovered that a lot of them are developed around a new consumption model: the collaborative consumption, with the idea that the power of a community can help you get what you’re looking for.
We quickly felt that this would be a very strong direction in our case. We started to look for the best way to connect the people who have a washing machine and those who don't and want to do their laundry. While imagining the way the service would work we realized that we also needed to add some new criteria to the brief, the main one being : How do you design products integrated into a service, and who are going to be shared and carried around?

After receiving the brief, we quickly did two things. First, we looked at what is exactly a washing machine, what are its functions and what are its strength and weaknesses as a product. Then we also had a look a the current offer on the market and after we'd been to the shop, the word that came out was uniformity. The washing machines looked almost identical, and it was really difficult to notice specifically any brand or product among the others.
So the main goal we had then was to create differences in order to stand out of the crowd.
We also looked at the target audience to understand the values that are important to them, what they are looking for, and how to connect and communicate with them.
Based on the findings from our research, we started generating some concepts. After filtering ideas and isolating the ones with the biggest potential we started refining 3 main directions, but one quickly stood out : Link together a person who has a washing machine and someone who is looking to get the laundry done, by the help of the products and service.
From there, we started working in parallel on the service and on the products.
For the service we focused on finding a way to build trust between the users, so that you have the guaranty that you can leave your clothes at another person house to be cleaned and won't have any problem.
On the other hand, for the product we first looked at defining their architecture. To do so, we started with a shopping bag filled with 5kg of clothes and some cardboard in order to visualize what it is. One of the main constraint we worked with as well was to keep the standard dimensions (600x500x850) for a washing machine, so that it can be integrated easily in any house or apartment.
Then based on this architecture we looked for a common design language we could apply to both the washing machine and the clothes basket, in order to create a feeling of coherence and unity when you look at the two products.

5. The Value: How does your project earn its keep in the world? What is its value? What is its impact? (Social,
educational, economic, paradigm-shifting, sustainable, environmental, cultural, gladdening, etc.)

- create social link
- interesting business model that can allow you to lighten the cost of your washing machine after a certain number of shared use.
- possible extension of the application of the product to students residences